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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27233032">Love to life</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/luxzosa/pseuds/luxzosa'>luxzosa</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>One Piece</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Anal Fisting, Angst with a Happy Ending, M/M, Nami is a cat, Parent/Child Incest, Reiju is pregnant, Robin witch, Torture, Tragedy, Violation</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 21:49:53</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Explicit</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con, Underage</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>5,546</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27233032</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/luxzosa/pseuds/luxzosa</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Zoro visits an old "friend" in his childhood village, but he didn’t expect that the religious rites of the place and its people would evoke the same evil.</p><p>Halloween special</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Roronoa Zoro/Vinsmoke Sanji</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>35</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Love to life</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>WARNINGS: Child abuse, some scenes can disgust you, incest, fisting (if you search the Internet for this and you DO NOT like it, then don’t read this fic / or you skip that part idk) implicit rape/non-con/dub-con, explicit violence, satanic rites and topics about pregnancy.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p class="western"><br/>
<br/>
</p><p class="western"><br/>
<br/>
</p><p class="western">
  <em>And I stood on the sand of the sea, and I saw a beast come up out of the sea, which had seven heads and ten horns; and on its horns ten diadems; and over their heads I name blasphemy. [...] And they worshiped the dragon who had given power to the beast, and they worshiped the beast, saying: Who is like the beast, and who can deal with it?</em>
</p><p class="western">
  <em>Revelation according to Saint John 13: 1-4.</em>
</p><p class="western"><br/>
<br/>
</p><p class="western">
  <em>A few days ago, his best friend had died. Her father had told him that she’d fallen down the stairs, but he didn't really think that was the case. It was hard to think that Kuina had slipped and died, she’d probably done it on purpose, so she committed suicide when she had the best chance.</em>
</p><p class="western">
  <em>Zoro was deeply disappointed at the thought of this, but remembered that Kuina wasn’t a person to give up easily, so he scrapped the idea. After the grand funeral, when they had spent weeks in bed, he returned to her grave and left her a flower, hoping that she could understand the emptiness she’d left inside him.</em>
</p><p class="western">
  <em>By the time the sun began to hide on the horizon, he heard the grass rustling under the footsteps of someone, who then shared the empty space next to him and spoke.</em>
</p><p class="western">
  <em>“Was it someone important?” Zoro's mouth twisted, looking away.</em>
</p><p class="western">
  <em>“What does it matter to you? go away!” Dazed by his words, the unwanted guest looked at the grave and then stared back at him.</em>
</p><p class="western">
  <em>“I understand how you feel,” the voice replied, remaining silent for a long time. “I also came to visit someone.”</em>
</p><p class="western">
  <em>From the beginning, Roronoa was never a sensitive child or interested in talking about his feelings, even with the death of his friend, he had learned that now more than ever he must be tough and strong, impassive in the face of difficulties.</em>
</p><p class="western">
  <em>“... Well, I'm sorry for you.” He managed to say, hidden between his knees, “Could you leave me alone?”</em>
</p><p class="western">
  <em>“But,” he replied, to which Roronoa gave him an annoyed look. “But... you're sad, and when we're sad, we look out for company... and even if we avoid it, we need it.” The child murmured softly “That's what mom said.”</em>
</p><p class="western">
  <em>Between the last rays of the sun, approaching the last hours of the day, when the birds huddle together, the mountains cover each other and the crickets leave the house, the boy's plump face looks at him. He feels dazzled to see it, covered in thick layers of gauze on his cheek and bruised lips.</em>
</p><p class="western">
  <em>“A-Are you okay?”</em>
</p><p class="western">
  <em>The breeze is blowing quite hard, but Zoro doesn't see any traces of sadness on the boy. The bangs that cover his eye are gently fanned, and somewhat distraught by what he sees, he brushes the hair from his face and twists his mouth.</em>
</p><p class="western">
  <em>“Your eye...”</em>
</p><p class="western">
  <em>“It was worse yesterday,” he says, his voice still cracking in the background. “It'll be better tomorrow.”</em>
</p><p class="western">
  <em>“You have it... difficult.”</em>
</p><p class="western">
  <em>He swallows hard, careful not to press the purple bruise that squeezes his reddish eye. It is swollen and its interior twinkles, bloodshot, it seems to be on the verge of tears at the contact.</em>
</p><p class="western">
  <em>“It's nothing, really.”</em>
</p><p class="western">
  <em>Anguished, because the pain in the heart of children is contagious and Zoro keeps weighing on his chest, he squeezes the boy's hand.</em>
</p><p class="western">
  <em>“Sorry...”</em>
</p><p class="western">
  <em>Who protects children now? When they cry or suffer… Whose is the hand that lulls the creatures? When Zoro looks at that boy next to him, he thinks that there is no one, ever on the face of the earth, with enough heart to heal his pain.</em>
</p><p class="western">
  <em>“Ah! It’s late!”</em>
</p><p class="western">
  <em>He feels a little sorry when he lets go of his hand, because he sees in his face a huge desire to speak to him, but the moon is in the sky and he must also go.</em>
</p><p class="western">
  <em>“Before you go,” he splutters, waiting for the latter to hear him clear and loud. “Can you tell me your name?”</em>
</p><p class="western">ˏˋ ((🌿)).</p><p class="western">On the hill in the countryside, Zoro yawns as he gazes across the horizon line at ancient eaves. There is a small town just a few steps away, with surrounding farms and a row of vineyards.</p><p class="western">“Can you remind me why I accepted you to come with you?” He asks, with the scowl on his face. Robin smiles softly and tightens her hat.</p><p class="western">“You need me.”</p><p class="western">“And then why did you bring Nami with you?”</p><p class="western">“You need her too.”</p><p class="western">She fights back, while the ginger kitten struts between Nico's legs, her tail raised and arched. Nami stretches out on the ground afterward, yawning as the sky turns fiery warm.</p><p class="western">“You fucking witch,” Roronoa answers. “I just came to visit someone, it's not that bad.”</p><p class="western">“If that person got you here, it's something important.”</p><p class="western">He looks at her, fed up with her expertise, and starts slowly down the hill. Robin carries Nami with ease and follows closely behind.</p><p class="western">“I wonder what kind of person makes you come to this town on vacation.”</p><p class="western">“What's wrong with the town?”</p><p class="western">“I don't know,” she says sincerely. “But although the colors are beautiful, its interior doesn’t attract me.”</p><p class="western">Zoro shadows himself with his palm, and squinting he dazzles a giant windmill of old white blades, then checks the house that is arranged high above, near to the clouds, from his view. It is a house with an amazing ornate gable, with wide and beautiful eaves.</p><p class="western">“I thought this was a poor town.”</p><p class="western">“If you look down you'll see it.”</p><p class="western">And indeed it is down below that you see the poverty, and the closer you get, the dead faces, of horrible yellow color. He didn’t remember that the town was at that level of rot, but the truth is that he didn’t remember many things either.</p><p class="western">“Looks like we're not welcome.”</p><p class="western">“Just ignore them.”</p><p class="western">Zoro walks through the streets, from a dilapidated and blackened structure, with rickety doors, broken windows, to an overflowing crowd. He felt the heavy glances of the townspeople, who whispered and dragged their words with the slowness of a worm, as if the interior were damp earth and the tongue a fat pupa.</p><p class="western">“I dislike this town.” Robin murmurs, with serious features “Do you at least know where we will be staying?”</p><p class="western">Roronoa frowned, when a man next to him spat out on his shoes. The man looked up with an intimate desire to provoke him, but the green-haired man glared at him, with latent gray eyes. The man backed away in anguish, imagining the dark mist emanating from the brunette.</p><p class="western">“Do you remember Jonny and Yosaku?”</p><p class="western">After adjusting his hat and leaving, Zoro continues his conversation with Robin, who watches the man stumbling down the street.</p><p class="western">“... I don't know who th-”</p><p class="western">“Good. Just be content with the fact that they moved in and left me their house, that's it.”</p><p class="western">“And are you sure your friend is here?”</p><p class="western">“I have no idea, but it's the only place I can find it.”</p><p class="western">“And what will you do when you see them?”</p><p class="western">Nami, who wasn’t able to walk on the ground of the town - it was like stepping on flames, she felt, stepping on corpses and guts - stayed in Robin's arms, her tail wagging and visibly disturbed</p><p class="western">“And does he remember you? How are you sure that-”</p><p class="western">“Why the hell are you asking so many questions?”</p><p class="western">“I just like to bother you,” she smiles. “But also because I don't feel anything good about this place.”</p><p class="western">“Does your witch instinct tell you?” He asks, almost mocking, but Nico slaps him on the shoulder and denies.</p><p class="western">“More than that, I feel that here we’ll find nothing but tragedy and pain, so I hope you find your friend soon.”</p><p class="western">ˏˋ ((🌿)).</p><p class="western">The house, small and lacking in any grace to admire, was surprisingly cozy. First they looked at the kitchen, which had a window that revealed the vineyards, then the small but useful electric stove, a round table with a fringed tablecloth, and also the vases with plastic plants. The rest was just a furnished common room, a couple of stools, and tasteless rooms with just one bed.</p><p class="western">“What’s your plan to find him?”</p><p class="western">It occurred to her to ask, just to annoy him. She put Nami down, who quickly began to explore the house, and sat down in an armchair covered in a white blanket.</p><p class="western">“Ask for him, perhaps?” He said, after a long resigned sigh “I only know his name, that's enough for me.”</p><p class="western">Nico nodded not so convinced and looked out the window at the dark night and the wind racing through the countryside, the rhododendrons and the swifts.</p><p class="western">“Where are you going?” Robin stopped Zoro, who had left his suitcase in the room and had come downstairs cloaked with a cap “It's night already.”</p><p class="western">“There's nothing to eat here, I'll go buy something.”</p><p class="western">“I’ll go with you.”</p><p class="western">“It's not necessa-”</p><p class="western">“I’ll. Go. With. You.”</p><p class="western">Without causing any more disputes, he pressed his eyes heavily and waited for the woman to put down her things to go out. However, outside, they realized how bitingly cold it was and returned for a coat. In the afternoon it had been hot, but there was a cool wind, now at night it was only cold.</p><p class="western">“And Nami? Won't you bring her?”</p><p class="western">“She went exploring.”</p><p class="western">“I thought you wouldn't want her to go anywhere since this town is ‘unpleasant’” Robin got under the shade of a lamp post and walked next to Roronoa “And I thought you wouldn't want to come with me for that reason either.”</p><p class="western">“You know I don't have dominion over Nami,” she declared. “Besides, she's much more efficient, I'm sure she'll find your friend soon.”</p><p class="western">“... Will it bring good news?”</p><p class="western">“I don't know that.”</p><p class="western">When they found a decent looking store, Zoro walked in and Robin stood outside, admiring the dark sky; not a single star lit up. Even the stars have forsaken this town, she thought, admiring the ease of the streets. Only moments ago it had been full of people, but now there were only a few walking in the shadows, breathing a shared air full of foul odor.</p><p class="western">As the minutes passed, suddenly the sky began to cry, and between the eaves of the store a woman was covered by her side, carrying shopping bags. Nico looked at her for a moment, seeing the dull face that everyone shared, but discovered between the dark circles and bags large blue eyes, which still seemed to twinkle with some life.</p><p class="western">“I-It's pouring...”</p><p class="western">Detailing her hair, which though it was dull, was pink, she said a slight yes when she looked down and saw her swollen belly, the size of which was eight months. The girl, who must have been no more than twenty-three or twenty-four, she shifted uncomfortable at her scrutinizing gaze and clearing her throat.</p><p class="western">“... Are-Are they new here?”</p><p class="western">Robin nodded, not taking his eyes off her belly. Suddenly she felt an intense desire to touch it, her hand began to tingle and tremble with the urge, something inside her told her that she would touch him.</p><p class="western">“May l?”</p><p class="western">She asks, pointing to her belly. The red-haired girl, nervous about the question, tried to refuse, but Robin’s bluish gaze left her perplexed, she saw no way out in saying no, or refusing, so she accepted with a slight nod.</p><p class="western">“How many months?”</p><p class="western">“E-Eight and a half...”</p><p class="western">With a downcast gaze, the blue-eyed looked at the woman's hand touching her stomach, and Robin blinked and wrinkled her face in an unpleasant way. Then, when long seconds had passed and she felt uncomfortable, she tried to pull away and Nico snapped his hand away, almost as if it burned.</p><p class="western">“Hey witch, I bought this-”</p><p class="western">The pink-haired girl looked at Robin and then at Zoro, and suddenly an arcade rose from within her like the roar of a demon. Nico tried to hold her, but the woman fled through the rain that had turned into a storm and left the streets wet. They watched her disappear into the winding maze of darkness and glared at Roronoa with mild anger.</p><p class="western">“Don't say witch in front of others, and less in this town.”</p><p class="western">“Come on, if they burn you or something, you just have to curse them, right?”</p><p class="western">Without falling for his provocations, Zoro saw Nico still staring at where the woman had gone, and the way she kept insisting, as if she could see where the woman went, gnawed at him with curiosity.</p><p class="western">“Something happened?”</p><p class="western">Hiding the feelings that recently fluctuated on her face, she placed the palm with which she had touched the woman's belly on Roronoa's chest, close to his heart.</p><p class="western">“Nothing.”</p><p class="western">ˏˋ ((🌿)).</p><p class="western">He woke up in a bad mood, as if his skin had been stolen and the wolf had put it on, or maybe it was just the atmosphere of the place that made you think that. It was late enough, almost noon, when Robin said something surprising to him.</p><p class="western">“They stamped someone,” she commented at lunchtime, with Nami on her lap. “They left the body crucified deep in the vineyard.”</p><p class="western">“H-how do you know?”</p><p class="western">“Everyone in town is talking about it...” she slowly says, stroking Nami's back. “They're proud that he's dead.”</p><p class="western">Roronoa was silent, taking in the situation. Robin was quite impassive when saying things, but the coldness in her voice was still a bit thick.</p><p class="western">“Was that person that bad?”</p><p class="western">“Do you want me to tell you how it happened?” Nami stretched out and got down to the floor, to doze on the chair leg “Nami was exploring last night, I think she could tell you what happened.”</p><p class="western">Zoro didn't answer, what did the bestiality of the townspeople mattered to him? He tipped his cup of coffee and thought it might be nice to replace it with alcohol, even if it was still early.</p><p class="western">“Well, are you going to say it, even if I say no, right?” Nico tilted her head, with a slight smile “Come on, before I regret it.”</p><p class="western">Roronoa raised an eyebrow, when Robin took her time to speak. The woman started to tell what Nami had seen and Zoro listened carefully. The man who lives in that house near the mill is crazy, he thinks that his wife has died because of the devil and he has an inordinate hatred for the culprit.</p><p class="western">At that time of day, as the town was silent, only the sound of the wind hitting the grass could be heard. Roronoa looked out the window at the vineyard, not imagining that the poor young man's body would be inside.</p><p class="western">It’s a family of five siblings, the third is the most beautiful child among them, because he looks like his angelic mother. Robin caught the attention of Nami, who jumped back into her lap. His brothers convinced their father that the third of them had made a pact with the devil.</p><p class="western">They told him that inside him was the devil, the beast</p><p class="western">“So his father killed him and that's it?” Robin wanted to laugh at Zoro's naivety, who seemed to want it to end quickly. “Don’t tell me that-”</p><p class="western">“How do you kill a baby that doesn't exist Zoro?” The question unsettled him so much that he pushed the drink away from the table and leaned back in the chair “When you think there’s one.”</p><p class="western">The answer was so obvious that he smiled confusedly, even to lighten the mood a bit. Robin took a deep breath and said the following calmly, although every word she uttered made him nauseous. His brothers held him on the bed and his father urged inside him. The boy resisted and kicked, but the man opened his interior and put his entire arm in, prying with the other.</p><p class="western">His brothers began to laugh as the boy lay dying on the bed, the man scratched his anal walls and didn’t stop until he found the demon fetus. When he held him, he yelled “<em>I have found the son of the devil”</em> and pull his intestines out, with absolute force and brutality.</p><p class="western">“Robin, stop.”</p><p class="western">Faced with extreme blood loss, he died instantly. And his father tore his guts out and showed them to his sons, saying that he had killed the devil.</p><p class="western">“ROBIN!”</p><p class="western">“<em>I HAVE DONE WHAT YOU WANTED, MY WIFE!”</em> the man shouted.</p><p class="western">“RO-”</p><p class="western">“Do you remember the girl we found at the store? She came home and saw her brother dead in bed, stained with blood and with the guts in the hands of his father and brothers. Her father told her <em>‘daughter, we are safe now’</em> and showed her each ripped visor.”</p><p class="western">“How can you say all of this so calmly?” He swallowed hard, his stomach churning. Nico lowered Nami off her lap and caressed it.</p><p class="western">“I'm a witch, remember?”</p><p class="western">The sun dipped into the edge of the countryside, and Roronoa massaged his temples with a knot in his stomach. He looked up at the sky, whose color was still beautiful, and he remembered his childhood friend again.</p><p class="western">“Do you want to go see? Zoro, you must go.”</p><p class="western">“Why the hell should I?” He answered, getting up from his chair “I have nothing to do with-”</p><p class="western">“Zoro.” Nico persisted “Come on.”</p><p class="western">ˏˋ ((🌿)).</p><p class="western">Inside the crops, it felt more lively than the town, but between the evening hours, the orange color of the sky gave the feeling of having returned to the past, when he waited for his friend again, hoping to see him again.</p><p class="western">“Are you sure it's around here?”</p><p class="western">Without understanding how he had been convinced by the woman, he continued walking with the help of her directions. He was prepared to see something terrible, a horrifying scene, from a horror movie, but his heart didn’t respond to his demands for calm and peace, in fact, it was beating unbridled, in an intense race, as if it were going to explode inside his chest</p><p class="western">“We're here.”</p><p class="western">Between the last rays of the sun, approaching the last hours of the day, when the birds huddle, the mountains clothe themselves and the crickets leave their houses, the pale and white face of his friend is before him. He’s frightened to see him, covered in blood, dead.</p><p class="western">Zoro didn't believe what he saw in the moment, so he reaches over and stretches his trembling arm up to his face, opening his closed eyelashes.</p><p class="western">“They,” he stops, taking a sharp breath. “They took away... his eyes.”</p><p class="western">“It was the town. Without eyes his soul won’t be able to guide himself, he won’t find a grave in heaven or hell, he’ll be left wandering here forever.”</p><p class="western">Nico watched him at his discovery, turning away when the truth was made at Zoro's grimaces. His trembling hands clenched against each other, his head feeling like stone, as if it was going to crush him at any moment.</p><p class="western">
  <em>But... you're sad, and when we're sad, we look out for company... and even if we avoid it, we need it.</em>
</p><p class="western">“Robin.” The woman, respecting Roronoa's pain, turned to look at him, with the feeling that this would be the end. “I need a favor.”</p><p class="western">She saw that dark mist, that terrible scowl full of anger and saddened sigh. The pain of the heart of children is contagious, but the pain of the heart of what they love is forever.</p><p class="western">ˏˋ ((🌿)).</p><p class="western">“You know what I need for that, right?” she reaches from the counter for a bottle of rum, and takes drinks thirstily “If you do... I don't think you'll save a space in heaven Zoro.”</p><p class="western">“Why are you blabbering so much?” He scolds, looking at the empty bottle “How many do you need? Just tell me, come on.”</p><p class="western">“One is enough.” she sighed, massaging her temples. “But it must be younger, no more than ten years.”</p><p class="western">“Done.”</p><p class="western">When she saw him get up, grabbing what was on the table, she looked out the window at the vineyard again and patted her forehead. No one was to pay for the sins of adults, but whenever a life was lost, it wasn’t recovered without the sacrifice of another.</p><p class="western">“You really are going to? Revenge is terrible.”</p><p class="western">“You shouldn't have taken me to the vineyard then, if you knew this would’ve happen.”</p><p class="western">“I know” Robin declared, “I perfectly know”</p><p class="western">ˏˋ ((🌿)).</p><p class="western">There’s a child in the village, whose heart hasn’t been marked by the mistrust, hatred and prejudice of the villagers. He’s a boy who lives with his grandfather, he is hard-working, loving, cares and loves. It’s the flower among the graveyard of the living.</p><p class="western">Of course he’s not loved as he should by others, but he is happy to serve those in need. His grandfather has taken him away from the gossip of the townspeople, so he doesn’t believe that there’s a young man impaled in the vineyard, the people around him aren’t so horrible, they are human after all.</p><p class="western">Walking through the streets in the afternoon, he carries a basket of opulent fruit. <em>Today grandpa will be happy!</em> he thinks, his nose blue from the cold. He laughs lightly with rosy cheeks until a small apple falls to the ground and rolls. A man who’s close to raise it and hands it to him</p><p class="western">“Thank you!”</p><p class="western">“No” Denies the man “Thank you.”</p><p class="western">Raising his head, a monster looms before him. He is giant, with eyes full of incredible pain and resentment, he’s a demon.</p><p class="western">“It’ll be quick, don't worry.”</p><p class="western">He feels the cold metal on his forehead, and paralyzed with fear he doesn’t run or call for help, or do anything because the townspeople out of the alley, even if they heard him, even if they heard his screams, would they come? <em>Would they come?</em></p><p class="western">Without hesitation, he shoots and the roar reverberates off the walls, but he hears a sturdy chirp in his ear, which is like the screech of souls as they tear themselves from bones and flee. He puts the gun away and opens a cloth bag, looking at the scattered blood.</p><p class="western">“Go back to heaven, child, there’s nothing here to be happy about.”</p><p class="western">ˏˋ ((🌿)).</p><p class="western">“Here you have.”</p><p class="western">When Zoro throws the bag at her with the bloody body, Robin can't believe that he really has done it. Roronoa drops the gun and washes his hands.</p><p class="western">“I'll go pack my things”</p><p class="western">Nico looks at the ground, then looks at the window, and feels the shapes dance before her eyes. He has done it; he has become the monster.</p><p class="western">“I'm sorry” she says suddenly, opening the bag to observe the tender face of the child, who even dead seems to be calm, wrapped in immense darkness “I'm sorry, I'm so sorry.”</p><p class="western">ˏˋ ((🌿)).</p><p class="western">Late at night, almost on the sixth day, someone asks about the boy who always brings fruits to his house. Since no one in town is interested in it and they don't care, they don't give answers to the grandfather who suffers from the despair of his grandson. Meanwhile, at Zoro's house, Robin is fulfilling the favor Roronoa asked of him.</p><p class="western">“I you to leave, let's meet at the exit of this town,” she says, handing him Nami. “I'll do it at night, but then I'll go somewhere else, so wait for me.”</p><p class="western">“I count on you.”</p><p class="western">Still heavy, not getting used to the man's dark gaze, she nods at him and lets him go. She locks herself up at nine o'clock at night and puts a padlock on the door, wood on the windows, and paper on the cracks. Then she moves the couches, lights a candle, and takes out of the refrigerator a bottle of red liquid.</p><p class="western">“The blood of a pure child,” she murmurs, spreading it across the floor. “It's much cleaner than I thought.”</p><p class="western">She went to the bag of the infant's remains (which Zoro had done her a favor to dismember) and tore out some of the hair, then grabbed a knife and peeled off a piece of skin. With that ready, she lit another candle and sat on top of the pool of blood.</p><p class="western">She hesitated for a moment remembering the words she had to say, but shaking off the doubt, she began to draw words from her hissing mouth.</p><p>
  <span>
    <em>et satanas – Caiaphas</em>
  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>
    <em>et magnus apud boy –unum,</em>
  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>
    <em>incipiens a majore – minimus vobiscum cum</em>
  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>
    <em>goalkeeper cum macello,</em>
  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>
    <em>o fferens arietem,</em>
  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>
    <em>et victimam,</em>
  </span>
</p><p>
  <em>et ex hac sunt omnes vos adepto simul in F et ir non</em>
</p><p>
  <em>intrabit in cor meum </em>
</p><p class="western"><span>She</span> brought her palms together, swallowed the child's skin, and the place shook, fed by the sacrifice. The chair turned to flames, the boy's hair was tied up, and Robin put his fingers inside his mouth regurgitating the boy's skin transformed into a demon.</p><p class="western">When she knew that it was completed, she closed her eyes, and before her the abyss opened, and the misery and rottenness and suffering all together, with cries of infernal sadness.</p><p class="western">ˏˋ ((🌿)).</p><p class="western">Lying on the bed, Reiju twisted in pain holding her belly. The trauma of having seen her dear brother dead, bloody in that same bed she was in, had her paralyzed with fear. She remembers beating her father, and then being held by her brothers who, without much delicacy, had threatened to tell her about her pregnancy to father.</p><p class="western">She had been very good at hiding it, but Ichiji had discovered her and threatened to tell Dad if she didn't stop helping his brother, whom she always protected. From the beginning she had to despise him, and act as if she hated him just to save her skin.</p><p class="western">Of course, with the circumstances with which she had passed her pregnancy, she tried to abort it. Very close to the fifth month, when she couldn’t take it anymore, she thought that burying a knife in her belly and piercing what she had of her baby was fine, but every chance she got, she remembered her mother whose belly she had always loved and protected, she wasn’t able to do it.</p><p class="western">She didn’t feel like taking care of what would be born, because she knew it would come out deformed and horrible, and seeing it come out of her vagina she would vomit because it would be a disgusting, a horrible demon. She curled up on the bed sobbing, until she heard incessant cries for help.</p><p class="western">“FIRE!” she hears, outside your house “FIRE!”</p><p class="western">She got up as best she could, feeling weak in her legs, and looked out the window at an intense reddish smoke that spread from the vineyard to the town to the mill. The flames seemed to come from the edge on the horizon, as if they had fallen into hell.</p><p class="western">“No, it can’t be...”</p><p class="western">She coughed when the smoke came through her window, and suddenly she heard the screams of her brothers, surely caught between the cruel fire. She held on with the help of the windowsill, but felt a sharp blow until a stream of water soaked her legs.</p><p class="western">“N-NO…!”</p><p class="western">In panic, sobbing and suffering incredible spasms, she couldn't move to the door of her room because the fire began to reach her room, and all she saw was intense flames eating her curtains, scratching the tapestry, and destroying the wood.</p><p class="western">“FOR-FORGIVE ME BROTHER!”</p><p class="western">She screamed desperately, thinking it was her punishment for everything.</p><p class="western">“FORGIVE ME, FORGIVE ME, PLEASE, FOR-”</p><p class="western">“Shhh, calm down.”</p><p class="western">A cold hand covered her mouth, and the blue almond eyes became so familiar she thought it was an illusion. It was her, dressed in a black robe.</p><p class="western">“This baby you have here” he said, clutching her belly “I need it.”</p><p class="western">She desperately denied, thinking of asking him for help to save her, but her heart couldn't just get rid of the baby, there was no way.</p><p class="western">“Save him” she cried, sweating excessively and her eyes wide with pain. “SAVE HIM”</p><p class="western">The flames dispersed as Nico came to her side, and the woman scooped him up, forcing her to stand.</p><p class="western">“Get against the wall” he asked, to which Reiju tried, but slipped. “Get on the wall, come on!”</p><p class="western">She gasped and screamed leaning against the windowsill, then Nico lifted her dress, checking to see if it had dilated properly.</p><p class="western">“On the count of three, you will bid, understand?” Reiju covered her mouth, stifling a squeak. “Do you understand? Tell me yes, come on.”</p><p class="western">She nodded frantically and Robin began to count.</p><p class="western">ˏˋ ((🌿)).</p><p class="western">When he heard the loud cry of the newborn, who had been quickly sheltered by the reddish robe that Nico had brought, Reiju collapsed on the ground in a pool of deep blood. The flames seemed to have stopped, but it was only in that place because he could hear the voices of help throughout the town, burning alive.</p><p class="western">“It's a boy” Robin whispered, wiping his matchstick skin and blood with her fingers. “A boy.”</p><p class="western">Seeing the umbilical cord, the black-haired woman knelt down and bit it with his teeth. Time was running out, and she already had what they wanted.</p><p class="western">“L-Let me... let me see it.”</p><p class="western">Nico spat out the liquid that the cord splashed into her mouth and put the child in front of the dying face of the woman, who was pale, tired and sweaty, trying to keep her eyes open.</p><p class="western">“H-He doesn't...” she stammers, trying to look into the woman's eyes for an answer.</p><p class="western">“I know,” she interrupted. “I know.”</p><p class="western">The baby opened his eyes, and then Reiju wrinkled his chin and burst into uncontrollable crying.</p><p class="western">ˏˋ ((🌿)).</p><p class="western">Sitting on the hill, looking at the town submerged in the flames, Zoro caressed his chest, where his heart was pounding. Now he’d live every day without his friend, and he felt really empty because he had grown up with the idea of seeing him again, telling him everything that had happened when he left.</p><p class="western">The breeze, which seemed to share his feelings of grief, fanned the flames and they grew tall and slender above the night mantle. All the beauty of the vineyard disappeared, and between them the cry of life resounded throughout the space, reaching the edge whose sun had set. Zoro grabbed a handful of weed and furiously threw it, revenge filling nothing, and neither did death.</p><p class="western">He took a deep breath, and the black smoke whose shapes became poisonous clouds, brought back the memory of the child again, like a cycle of absolute torture.</p><p class="western">“Zoro.”</p><p class="western">Suddenly he heard his name, and looked up to see Robin while the blissful fire danced and sang behind her.</p><p class="western">“Damn woman, you took too much tim-” he stopped, seeing that she was holding something in her arms. “What’s that?”</p><p class="western">Nico smiled, in a way that made Zoro overwhelm</p><p class="western">“A baby” she replied. “Do you want to carry him?”</p><p class="western">“What?” he staggered, denying with a frown “Where did you-? Ah, whatever, come on, it's time to go.”</p><p class="western">“You sure?” she pushed, imprisoning him to her chest “It's beautiful.”</p><p class="western">“I already told you that-”</p><p class="western">He looked down for a moment, and since his heart already had the color of life engraved inside him, he already knew very well what it was like to see him again. Robin was deeply touched, and she placed him in his trembling arms.</p><p class="western">“It's him” he said, causing the man's face to wrinkle from chin to forehead. “It's him, Zoro.”</p><p class="western">Zoro felt the blood rise to his face, warming his body, as if bringing him to life, the pale baby in his arms had blue eyes like his friend, so equal.</p><p class="western">“Damn, h-how?” he asks, trying to stop the tears that tingle in the corner of his eyes.</p><p class="western">“Do you know who the father of the baby is?” He denied “He’s the same man who killed your friend, he is the son of the red-haired girl.”</p><p class="western">“W-what?”</p><p class="western">“As you hear” she answers “she was raped by her father and got pregnant.”</p><p class="western">“Y-Yes but-”</p><p class="western">The boy, nestled in the warmth of the man's arms, whined and clung to his chest, breaking Zoro.</p><p class="western">“W-Why isn't h-he-”</p><p class="western">“It's a miracle!” Robin laughed “And also a gift.”</p><p class="western">Robin looked at him, at the man who had lost the sense of everything, who had stained his hands with blood, who would go to hell, she contemplated him sobbing to have his friend back in his arms, whose form was so pure as to touch because he was the baby soul, the exhilarating soul of life.</p><p class="western">“You cannot get rid of the sin you committed...” She said, patting his shoulder. “But you can erase it little by little, if you take care of this child as it should.”</p><p class="western">Zoro hugged him against his chest, gently because he felt fragile and weak, and then Robin remembered the time he touched the woman's belly, where a deformed creature was born, but then she felt the warmth of a new life, because the boy's tortured soul had wanted to give itself another chance.</p><p class="western">“And? What name will you give him?” moving away little by little, the black-haired girl caught the attention of Nami, who was playing in the grass near a tree. Zoro wiped away his tears and looked at the boy's face again, glistening and rose-colored.</p><p class="western">
  <em>Before you go... Can you tell me your name?</em>
</p><p class="western">“Sanji” he answers “I'll call him Sanji.”</p><p class="western">“<em>My name?” The happy boy laughed. “My name’s Sanji!”</em></p><p class="western"> </p><p class="western"> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>What happened to Sanji, having a demon and how he died, in fact, is a real case, (of course I changed it for my context) and it is called the exorcism of Almansa, I don’t recommend that you look for it or anything, but you do you.</p><p>Thank you for reading!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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